HUNTSVILLE, AL -- A Democratic candidate for the newly created circuit judge seat does not meet state qualifications for the office, the candidate and party officials said Friday.

Because of quirks in the nominating process and the printing schedule for ballots, Annary Aytch Cheatham's name will still likely appear on the November ballot.

Republican Alan Mann is also on the ballot. The judge's seat was created to ease caseload burden of the Madison County Circuit Court, which had nearly 11,000 criminal cases in 2009.

Cheatham, a Huntsville native who graduated from Huntsville High School and Alabama A&M, got her law degree from Duquesne University Law School in Pittsburgh in 2001, but did not begin practicing law until she returned to Huntsville four years ago. She currently has a law practice focusing on real estate law as well as other business interests.

She was not present at an Alabama Democratic Party's executive committee meeting Aug. 26 when she was nominated, but she said she was honored to have been selected and welcomed the opportunity to run. But according to Alabama Bar Association records she became a member of the bar in August 2006.

Alabama law regarding circuit judge qualifications changed in 2009 and requires a candidate to have been a member of the Alabama Bar or another state bar for at least five years at the time they take office.

Cheatham said she believes attorneys should engage in public service. But after reviewing materials related to the position, she realized she was not qualified and given the state's Aug. 26 deadline for final candidate nominations, it was too late to make a change.

"I am extremely honored that anyone, and so many people, would find me worthy and give me such an opportunity to be in that kind of position," Cheatham said. "When we realized that was going to preclude me, I could not actually remove my name.

"It's an interesting dilemma to find oneself in."

She does not plan to campaign this fall.

The Alabama Democratic Party was allowed to select a candidate to run for the seat after the June primary because the only Democrat to have qualified this spring, Chad Morgan, withdrew from the race. State officials gave Democrats until Aug. 27 to fill vacant slots - where a candidate had qualified. The deadline is set up to allow time for ballots to be printed.

Cheatham's name was brought up in the party meeting, Alabama Democratic Party Executive Director Jim Spearman said. She was the only nominee and won the party's support. Only later did they learn her bar term was too short.

Madison County Democratic Party Chairman Doug Dermody said judicial and district attorney candidates, because they are considered state-level offices, typically qualify with the state party, which does the normal background vetting.

"I have been in contact with the state party and made them aware of the situation," Dermody said.

He said the brief deadline period for nominating Cheatham contributed to the confusion in this case.

Madison County Probate Court officials said sample ballots - which include Cheatham's name - have already been sent out and the regular ballots may have already been printed.

To simply remove Cheatham's name from the ballot would require another state Democratic Party meeting and candidate certification that announces they have no candidate. Spearman said there is not enough time to conduct another meeting.

Cheatham, who has helped manage a family real estate business and also worked on legislation for an aerospace trade association group in Washington, D.C., said she would consider a run for judge in 2012. She said she has great respect for Mann, the only candidate legally left in the race.

"I was raised in Huntsville and I'm somebody who would be representative on a different level, not just with legal interests but also for business people," she said. "I think they were trying to select a conservative Democrat. I'll be ready in 2012."